Three Ecuadoran brothers have brought modern French dining to the Heights — with an easy, casual air and exciting twists from their native cuisine. Chef Manuel Pucha’s cooking is as impeccable and understated as it was at La Table, his last posting. But hottish flavors, South American accents and touches of tropical fruits weave through his menu, suiting it to the Houston palate. Fat seared scallops on a sunset-hued piperade sauce arrive on downy little corn cakes, with a pickly jolt of curtido, the South American slaw, to wake up their sweetness. Pearlescent ceviche of big Gulf shrimp jumps with laser-thin slivers of serrano chile and red espelette pepper. And pastry chef Victor Pucha’s black-and-white soufflé draws on a deep well of flavor from Ecuadoran chocolate. That creme Anglaise to spoon in? It’s tinged ever so lightly with passion fruit.

Alison Cook – a two-time James Beard Award winner for restaurant criticism and an M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing award recipient – has been reviewing restaurants and surveying the dining scene for the Houston Chronicle for 12 years.